The genus Chlorophytum Ker-Gawl (Family Liliaceae) is known by about 200 species and is distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical countries. It is represented in India by about 15 species, which occur mostly in peninsular India. Most of the species are herbs with short root stock fascieled roots often thick, fleshy and tuberous.
Chlorophytum nimonii (Grah) Dalz. in Hook. Kew J. Bot. 2:142,1850 (Syns. Antherium nimonii Grah.; Chlorophytum orchidastrum sensu Baker non Lindl.), a herb upto a meter tall. Root fibres tuberous, leaves 5–10 mm thin, elliptic-lanceolate, acute, 30–60 cm. long, 1.5–10 cm. broad, strongly nerved, glabrous and shining on both sides, narrowed at base into a winged petiole 15–25 cm. long scape 20–40 cm. long thick, terete. Flowers are very small, white in very lax panicles 30–60 cm. long with ovate-lanceolate, bracts 0.2–3.5 cm; Perianth 6, very small 3–10×2–5 mm. Subacute, 5-nerved. Stamens 6, hypoglymous, about 5 mm. long. Capsule 6×3 mm., depressed, globose deeply lobed at the apex, transversely veined. Seed solitary, flattened, orbicular, minutely pappillose, dull black. Flowering and fruiting period ranges between May-August. It is also occasionally and infrequently distributed in South India [Hooker, J. D.; (1894)], Chlorophytum Ker. Flora of British India, Vol. 6 pp 333–335. L. Reeve and Co., London.; Cooke, T. (1908) Chlorophytum Ker., Flora of the Presidency of Bombay, Vol. 3, pp 280–283. Rep. Ed. (1958), BSI, Calcutta.; Fischer, C. E. C, (1928), Chlorophytum In Ker. J. S. Gamble, Flora of the Presidency of Madras, Vol. 3, pp 1064–1066 Rep. Ed. (1967), BSI, Calcutta; Santapan, H and Henry, A. N [1973], A Dictionary of The Flowering Plants in India pp 38, CSIR publication, New Delhi; Karthikeyan, S., Jain, S. K., Nayer, M. P. and Sanjappa, M [1989] Flora Indicae Enumerato; Monocotyledonae, pp 91–92, BSI, Calcutta].
Chlorophytum arundinaceum Baker, root powder after frying in ghee, is used for chewing in case of aphthae in mouth and throat [Asolkar, L., Kakkar, K. K. Chakre, O. J. In “Second suppliment to glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants with Active Principle P-197(1992) PID, New Delhi], Roots of other species Chlorophytum tuberosum [Roxb] Baker is used as vegetable tonic. No chemical or biological studies have been reported on Chlorophytum nimonii in literature. However, from other species, saponins, sapogenins, phenolic compounds, sugars, fatty acids and polysaccharides have been isolated and reported in literature.